South Africa could have done much better

Just when I was going through the PINOY BLOGGER REVIEWS I was reminded by the news channels about the 2^nd day's play of the 3^rd test between South Africa and the West Indies which obviously is held in the upperhand by the Proteas. But, with such a weak opposition the batting display of the South Africans which included the likes of Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, A B devilliars etc should have been much better unlike their day ending with just 285 on the board adding just another 239 runs on the board after ending day 1 at 46/2 after dismissing the hosts for 231.

As mentioned in my yesterday's post, if at all South Africa can boast of something great, it is their achievement in the test matches against teams like West Indies, Bangladesh etc. Though occasionally South Africa have had success against Australia and India, their real strength lies in games against West Indies. But, a total of just 285 with the loss of 6 wickets is far too little compared to what is being expected out of them. South Africa have a solid line up in their batting department with Jacques Kallis heading the list followed by Prince, Smith, Devilliars etc all of whom can surprise anyone.

On the otherhand, the West Indies have the world's worst bowling display though their batting department have players like Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderapaul etc who can save some face for their team. But, their bowling department is starving since 2000 after the retirement of bowlers like Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Ian Bishop and Roger Harper who were deadly on their days. Winning a match has been guessed and anticipated well in advance even before the series was decided but the way it would be won is always a wait game and winning that game takes precedence than to just finish it off formally.

With the caliber that the present South African team is having, they should have won both the first and the second tests by an innings rather than winning the former by 163 runs and drawing the latter. Had it been India or Australia, both the matches would have been won by an innings one can suppose. This is the test that tests the real myth of a team and faring badly could send out signals to other teams against which their next test series is due. More than ending the 2^nd day at 285/6, losing 2 wickets before the first day's play got over speaks much about the South African batting caliber. And, who knows who Alviro Petersen is?